Canadian official upbeat after first visit to Memphis
Canada’s consul general for region upbeat after first visit to Memphis
As the consul general of Canada in Atlanta, Louise Blais was on the lookout for business opportunities for Canadian companies during her first visit to Memphis.
But on Wednesday, the day before her scheduled return to Atlanta, Blais said she’ll take home to Canada a view of Memphis that may have Canadian companies considering business opportunities in Greater Memphis and the Southeast.
“I’ll be bringing the message that this area is doing extremely well, that it’s open for business, that the county and city are working together, they’ve got the support of the chamber, it’s recovering,” she said. “This is the time to come and consider doing business here and it would be a mistake not to take a look at it.”
As the consul general for six states in the Southeast, Blais is working to highlight the fact Canada is the No. 1 trading partner for the United States, Tennessee and Greater Memphis.
In 2013, Tennessee exported $8.7 billion in goods to Canada, including $1.7 billion from Memphis, and imported $5.4 billion from Canada, for a total of $14.1 billion in bilateral trade. About 160,000 jobs in Tennessee depend on that trade.
Blais touched base with Canadian companies in Memphis including product label maker CCL Label, a division of CCL Industries; tissue makers KTG (Kruger Products) and Cascades, and the Downtown location of Kooky Canuck restaurant. She called restaurant owner Shawn Danko “a real Canadian asset to the region.”
Danko, a Montreal native imported to Memphis with the Hard Rock Cafe 15 years ago, serves Canadian food and beverages at his two restaurants and has an all-Canadian team for Memphis in May’s World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. Danko — and he’s not joking — said he gets diplomatic immunity to import Canadian hogs for the contest.
“That’s part of the mission of the restaurant, is that I am Canadian, my roots are Canadian, I love being in the U.S. and
it’s great opening up eyes to what Canada is all about culinarily as well as culturally,” Danko said.
Area businesses t hat promote their Canadian roots help raise awareness of trade opportunities, Blais said. “I think we have a lot of small, medium-sized (American) companies who don’t think of Canada as their first export market, yet it is an export market that is actually a lot easier than going offshore,” she said.
Blais lunched with FedEx executives, discussing topics such as improving the flow of trade, a fundamental issue for t he Memphis-based carrier with “huge operations in Canada,” she said.
She met with executives of Memphis-based hardware distributor Orgill Inc., which exports to Canada, about border trading as well as how its suppliers in Canada are doing. The discussion will help i nform other Canadian companies that may want to supply Orgill. She also met officials at the Canadian National Railway.
As a sign of the importance of Memphis to Canada, Memphis since last year has been home to the only honorary consul of Canada in the Southeast, Leigh Shockey, chairman of Drexel Chemical Co. and chairman of the Greater Memphis Chamber.
Blais said a second honorary consul will soon be announced for Raleigh, North Carolina.
She is a French Canadian and art history major who worked three years for Interpol tracking art thieves and fraud, practiced museum management including a Portrait of American Presidents exhibit that traveled to embassies. That led to a diplomatic career that began two decades ago and included posts in Washington, Tokyo and Paris. Atlanta is her first “head of mission” position.
Strengthening supply chains throughout North America a nd focusing more on strategic partnerships between like-minded innovators are among her goals, Blais said. Her first visit to Memphis left her impressed about the pros- pects, and she’ll spread the word back home.
“They have to think beyond the music and beyond sort of the iconic view of Memphis, and really see the modern Memphis and what it can offer, in the way I’ve been convinced on this trip,” Blais said.